Granted, I Love You
by Haikoui
Summary: "I thought I wouldn't miss you when I had you. But after you left … I realized just how valuable you are to me." D/A, implied A/A, one-sided Arthur/Eames.


**Title: **Granted, I Love You

**Author: **Haikoui

**Disclaimer: **Inception doesn't belong to me at all and instead belongs to Christopher Nolan, who I bow down to because he has the mind near that of GOD.

**Summary: **"I thought I wouldn't miss you when I had you. But after you left … I realized just how valuable you are to me." D/A, implied A/A, one-sided Arthur/Eames.

* * *

><p>It's nighttime as Cobb points out tips to Ariadne in the dream, both of them sitting on the edge of a building high off the ground and looking over the glowing city. Ariadne tries her hardest to follow his ideas and designs, acting as a god to the projections of Cobb's subconscious. The projections are hostile, but they're high enough and the building is very securely blocked off so they are safe.<p>

"Good job," he breathes.

Ariadne leans back and admires her handiwork. "Thanks to you."

"You're going to be great on this next job."

She shrugs, and turns on her side. "I was thinking… after this job, I'll take a break. I'll spend some time doing actual architecture… in reality."

"You'll be fantastic at it," says Cobb in response.

"You're okay with that?" she inquires, and something flashes in her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. You'll come back, though," Cobb answers, smiling. "You always do."

Ariadne smiles, but it doesn't quite reach her eyes.

* * *

><p>After the job, Cobb finds Ariadne in front of their destination with her phone in her hand, ready to climb into a cab before the subject wakes. "Do you need a ride?" he asks her.<p>

"Oh – I'll get a cab, it's fine," Ariadne tells him. Her phone beeps suddenly, and she looks down. "Never mind. Arthur just offered, he's nearby. I don't want to trouble you," she adds, smiling sheepishly.

Cobb nods and shoves his hands in his pocket. "Well, good luck on your studies. Whenever you're ready, just call me and we can – "

"Look, Cobb," she interrupts, looking up at him with an odd expression, "I appreciate it, but… I really need this break."

He stays silent for a small while, watching her, before questioning, "Can you not dream anymore?"

"I – no, I can," she says weakly, just as a simple, black car drives up. The window rolls down and Arthur leans into view, calling out, "Ariadne! Oh, hey, Cobb."

Ariadne hurriedly moves forward and clambers into the passenger's seat, looking at Cobb apologetically. "Bye," she tells him, and Arthur waves a hand at Cobb.

Cobb watches as the car disappears into the mass of traffic on the city street, and he shoves his hands in his pockets. After a few seconds of standing aimlessly on the sidewalk, he finds it best to leave before their mark wakes and clambers down the stairs of his apartment to leave for work. Cobb looks over his shoulder for one more look at the traffic, and then begins his own walk to his car.

* * *

><p>He gets news from Arthur, later, that Ariadne's flown off to Paris to get her Master's Degree. "Is she having fun?" he finds himself asking.<p>

"_Well, she seems fine," _answers Arthur, and it's the last Cobb hears from him for another month – or any news of Ariadne, for that matter.

"Daddy?" inquires Phillipa one morning, sitting curled on Cobb's lap as James scribbles furiously on a sheet of paper with crayons scattered around on the coffee table in front of the television. "Why hasn't Ari come to visit?" James also looks up at this, pausing in his task.

Cobb strokes her hair and smiles. "She's just busy, sweetheart. She'll visit soon, like Grandpa does." He refers to Miles because it's the only way he knows how to assure them no one they love will be leaving any time soon. Ariadne has left a giant impression on them.

* * *

><p>It's been four months now and she hasn't called, and the only news he has – <em>vague<em> news – is acquired from Arthur's weekly calls. He finds himself looking forward to what Arthur has to say, but dreading it at the same time, and he can never quite understand why. Cobb also questions the point man as to why Ariadne's keeping contact with him and not Cobb, and whether or not he's done anything wrong.

"_Cobb, she's just busy,"_ says Arthur. _"She's got a lot on her mind, and besides, I'm at a hotel right down the block from her so – "_

Cobb interrupts him. "Oh. I get it." And he really, honestly does. He hadn't really thought they would actually – but it should have been obvious.

" – _Cobb – ?"_

"Arthur, I've got to go. Phillipa has – " He makes this up on the spot. " – tap dance lessons."

"_Wait, since when did she – "_

"Bye, Arthur." Cobb shuts his cell and stares at it for a long while.

There's a tap on his leg and Cobb nearly jumps out of his chair, before finding two wide eyed young children staring up at him – James and Phillipa.

"I have tap dance lessons?" the latter inquires.

Cobb sighs and picks up the Yellow Pages, flipping through it to find the closest tap dance studio there is in Los Angeles to sign Phillipa up.

* * *

><p>A year's gone by, and he finds a letter from Ariadne in the mail.<p>

Rather, James finds it.

"DADDY!" squeals the boy, running into the room and shoving the letter in front of Cobb. "Look, from Ari!"

"You can't even read yet, Jamie," Cobb tells him. He takes the letter from James' hands and examines it. Sure enough, the sender was from one Ariadne Bishop, in Paris, France.

"I had to read it for him, Daddy," says Phillipa smartly. "I read the first three letters. Ari's name is so confusing! But it's pretty anyway."

Cobb opens it, hardly recognizing that his hands were trembling slightly, and he sits down at the dining table as James jumps on his knee to look at the letter himself.

"_Dear Dom," _he reads to James, and James buries his face in Cobb's chest as Phillipa sits herself down in a chair beside them, listening eagerly. "_I'm sorry I haven't been in contact with you for a long while. My classes have been very time consuming, and so I didn't really have the time. I would always sit down to write – email is way too impersonal, in my opinion – and I'd get ordered away by some other thing from class." _Cobb pauses as James points out cheerfully, "I can read that word! It says 'and.'"

Phillipa giggles at her younger brother and Cobb ruffles his hair, before continuing, "_On the other hand, Arthur's been here for a long time. Well, long enough that he keeps my stress level down and I'm actually enjoying my time in Paris, studying my heart out. I'm assuming that he told you we're a couple now – _wait, what?"

Cobb stares at the paper, his grip tightening, and James looks up at him. "Daddy?" inquires the boy, and Phillipa rocks back and forth on her chair.

_I'm assuming he told you we're a couple now, and we've been going out for about five months. _

No, Arthur's never told him _that._ Cobb had suspected something, but he'd never had confirmation, and besides, Cobb had always thought Arthur to be in love with –

"Daddy! Keep reading!" says Phillipa, putting her elbows on the table, her chin resting on her palms. Cobb clears his throat, still stunned, and slowly reads once more.

"_I'm assuming that he told you we're a couple now, and we've been going out for about five months. I'm very happy. He wants me to come visit you when the summer break starts again but I'm just too busy. Miles tells me sometimes I should come back also, but again, way too busy." _James moves slightly in his lap before stilling, and Cobb exhales before continuing. _"Anyway, I should end this. I'll try to write more later, but I don't know if I can. See you, Cobb."_

He sees the simple signature at the bottom, and his heart thumps painfully as he spots only her name – _Ariadne._ No 'From, Ariadne,' no 'Sincerely, Ariadne,' no 'Love, Ariadne.'

_Shit._ He can't stand this anymore. His children talk of her visiting every day; he _himself_ wonders if she'll ever come back, and for _Christ's sake,_ he can't deny the fact that he only ever waits for Arthur's calls to hear if Ariadne is coming to visit.

When the hell did he fall in love with her?

* * *

><p>For the next few days, all he does is sit at the table with his laptop in front of him. At times his children become impatient and demand attention; he leaves only then to be with his angels, and when they're tucked into bed, he sits back in front of the computer, sitting up for hours, deciding, <em>if<em> he can even bring up his courage to do so, what to write, which scarcely happens. When it does, his words come out terribly wrong, and he starts all over again.

He sighs and shuts off his laptop after another unproductive night, rubbing his hand over his eyes, and is about to go brush his teeth and prepare for bed when the phone rings. Cursing, he quickly grabs it before the ringing can wake up Phillipa and James. "Hello?" he says irately into the phone.

"_Cobb!"_

"Arthur?"

"_God, I'm sorry for calling so late – what is it over there, one in the morning? How are you still up?"_

Cobb doesn't have the heart – or the morality – to explain, so he says simply, "James had candy." Which is, of course, a complete and utter lie.

"_Well, that's your fault, then," _Arthur says over the line. _"I just called to say – "_

"Why didn't you tell me you and Ariadne are dating?" Cobb shoots out, before he can help himself. He can already see Arthur's surprised expression over the phone.

"_Oh. I didn't think you'd really take notice of it – but you are, I guess," _Arthur says tersely.

Cobb sighs and rubs a hand over his eyes once more. "Look, Arthur, I'm not trying to sound condescending. I just wished you'd told me – "

"_You know you're not her father, right?"_

"I _know_ that – "

"_Or her older brother, for that matter."_

"Jesus Christ, Arthur, I'm not trying to sound – or be – protective," Cobb retorts.

"_You sure sound like her father to me," _says Arthur. He pauses, and then says in an easier tone, _"Oh, she's actually in the other room. Do you want to talk to her?"_

"I – yes, yes, yes," breathes Cobb, his heart catching in his throat.

"_Okay, let me put the phone down – I'm using a land line…"_

There are voices on the other side of the line – distinctly, Cobb can hear Arthur question Ariadne whether or not she'd like to talk, and her very, _very_ obvious reply. _"No, I don't want to."_

"_But, Ariadne, he's on the line."_

"_Arthur, please."_

"_Just talk to him. You've been avoiding him for forever and you only wrote that letter because I forced you. I don't get what's wrong, but you've got to talk to him."_

Cobb hears her sigh, and there's a fumble on the other line; then, _"Hi, Cobb."_

He hasn't spoken to her in so long that it's a miracle he can even manage to say, "Ariadne!"

"_How are you?" _she says quietly.

"I – I'm great," he lies, because it's too hard to tell her now. But he has to ask her one other thing. "When are you going to visit? James and Phillipa miss you."

There's too long of a silence on the other side of the line, and he's afraid she's hung up when she replies, _"Cobb… I'm not coming back."_

* * *

><p>It's another half a year and he finds himself at James' fifth birthday, and Phillipa's invited all her friends, plus James'. He sits, trying his hardest to ignore the feeling of emptiness inside him, and smiles tightly at one of Phillipa's friend's mothers, who gives him a flirty smile as she leaves her daughter at their place. He nods at her, barely noticing, and shuts the door in her face. He barely manages to usher the young girl in the other room when the doorbell rings once more, and he makes his way to it, pulling it open, expecting another little first grader licking a lollipop and looking greedily inside. Instead, he finds Eames.<p>

"I brought presents," says the Brit with a charming smile, and he dumps a load of wrapped gifts in Cobb's arms, letting himself into the house. "This place hasn't changed a bit, love."

"Change it for me, will you?" says Cobb tiredly, dumping the gifts on the table and leaning on the wall.

"I'm tempted to," Eames tells him. "Unfortunately, I'm not a woman. I can't tell design from a donkey's fat arse."

The forger pauses. "Speaking of women – "

"Don't start," Cobb interrupts.

"I'm being serious, though, Cobb. _Find a woman."_

Cobb glares at Eames, whose eyebrows rise into his hairline, and all of a sudden, the Brit deadpans, "Are you _gay?"_

Immediately after, Eames ducks as one of his very own oddly wrapped gifts flies violently through the air and hits the wall behind him. Straightening, Eames mutters, "Geez, love, it was just a joke."

"I'm not _gay,"_ says the extractor.

"I gathered as much, sweetheart," Eames responds. "You're in love again, aren't you?"

Cobb freezes as Eames prepares for another gift to fly through the air. When Cobb doesn't move, Eames allows himself to smile triumphantly.

"I knew it!" the forger says, moving closer. "And I bet I know exactly who it is."

Cobb shoves him away and leans against the wall again. "No, you don't."

"I bet I do. I bet her name starts with an _A_ and she's living in Paris right now. Dating _Arthur."_

"Eames, now is not the time," Cobb whispers.

"So I'm right!" says Eames. He puts a hand on Cobb's shoulder. "You should tell her, love."

"She's not coming back, Eames."

"She might if you tell her."

"She _won't. _She won't come back."

"Well, how do you know?"

"She told me!"

"Daddy?"

Phillipa appears beside them. "Aren't you going to answer the door?"

And Cobb becomes aware of the constant ringing from the doorbell. His lips thin and he shoots a glare at Eames before moving toward the door. Behind him, Eames picks Phillipa up and places a large kiss on her forehead, all the while Phillipa giggling cheerfully, "Hi, Uncle Eames!"

As Cobb lets in another first grader and shuts the door in front of a very flustered mother, Eames puts Phillipa down and allows her to run off with the new arrival.

"So, I still think you should tell her," says the forger.

"Eames. Please."

"You know what, Cobb?" Eames says, moving in front of him, staring him in the eyes. "_Tell her. _I didn't tell who I fell in love with how I felt, and now I'll never be with him."

Cobb stutters for a second, before saying, "You? In love? With – "

"But that's not important." Eames waves it off. "If you don't tell her, sooner or later she'll be engaged, then married, then holding a baby. Trust me. Because Arthur is a suave, lovable son of a bitch," he says.

Cobb stares at him for a while, before the doorbell rings again, and Eames answers it before Cobb can bother moving.

"I'm sorry, is this the wrong house?" says the woman at the door, holding the hand of her kindergartener.

"No, no, I'm just here being a fantastic man and helping my friend with a relationship with someone he's in love with who's going to get married to another in the near future," Eames says, welcoming the child in. The woman looks flabbergasted, and with only a single word of 'bye,' she leaves, skittering to her car.

"You didn't have to do that to her," Cobb says, shutting the door before Eames can do so himself, sending the kindergartener to the other room.

"Every woman who comes here undresses you with their eyes, darling," Eames tells him. "Let them know you're unavailable."

* * *

><p>Over the next few weeks, it is Eames who comes by nearly every day, and his constant presence makes Phillipa and James delighted to be at home. Cobb feels guilty for not being able to take them on a vacation of some sort, away from Los Angeles, but he has no idea where to take them, and the only place they really want to go, where Ariadne is and their Grandpa as well, is the one place Cobb cannot bring his courage to take them to.<p>

Until Eames comes over one day and drops an envelope on the dining table, where Cobb is looking through bills and some more private requests for extraction jobs – though he hasn't done any since the last job with Ariadne.

"Open it, love," says Eames, grinning wickedly.

Cobb takes it and pulls the envelope apart; four tickets to Paris tumble onto the table.

"_Eames," _Cobb says warningly.

"What?" says the Brit defensively. "You get to go to Paris, see Miles, see Ariadne. James and Phillipa will too. They'll see Arthur. _I'll_ see Arthur. It'll be the perfect vacation, darling."

"It would be, if Ariadne would want to see me, which she _doesn't."_

"Then ask her why," says Eames, leaning on the table. "And you know what? I'll _guarantee _that she'll say she's in love with you."

* * *

><p>"Cobb? <em>Eames?"<em>

"Hello, darling."

"What on Earth – ?"

"Where's Ariadne?"

"She's in _class,_" says Arthur, his eyebrows rising. "Now why are you guys here?"

"I convinced darling Cobb to bring his kids over, since they're on summer break," Eames answers, attempting to push past the point man into the apartment. "Are you renting this place? It's brilliant, love."

"Wait, you brought James and Phillipa over?" Arthur says, holding his ground in the doorway as Eames struggles to get inside the apartment. "Where are they?"

"I dropped them off… at Marie's," Cobb tells him. Miles had been at the university, but Marie, Miles' wife, had received the call that Cobb was on his way; when they'd arrived in Paris, she'd taken James and Phillipa to stay with her for the time being.

"They _really_ wanted to see Ariadne," Eames adds.

"Well, I can see why," says Arthur, smiling. Finally succumbing to Eames, he lets both the forger and the extractor inside. "I haven't seen you guys for a while… how are you?"

"Just wonderful, darling," says Eames, slinging a hand around Arthur's shoulders, and the point man grimaces immediately.

* * *

><p>Cobb waits outside of Miles' classroom, his hands clammy and cold, and his stomach twisting and coiling inside of him like a snake. He can hardly understand why he's nervous – he tries to convince himself that he's here visiting <em>Miles,<em> and telling them that James and Phillipa are here for another visit to France – but he knows this is Ariadne's last class of the day, thanks to Arthur's informational calls.

The last time he's felt like this was when he was about to propose to Mal.

But he wasn't proposing, was he? No, Cobb just wants her to come back, to give his children something other than school and play dates with their friends; something other than a father's terrible cooking at home; something more like a woman's touch at home.

When he puts it like that, he realizes, he's basically proposing.

When has he turned into Arthur?

The door to the lecture hall opens, and a second later he registers that class has been dismissed, and the students are pouring out like ants in their ant farm, except the one he's so desperate to see. He peers inside and finds her talking to her professor – Miles, he reminds himself – and she nods at him with a tight smile, turning to leave the classroom – he whips his head out of the doorway and waits.

"Hi, Joanne. Yeah, I'll meet you up in about half an hour, and – and – _Cobb?"_

Cobb shakes himself out of his stupor of finally seeing her for the first time in two years; her hair is layered, with side bangs, and she dresses more like Arthur. No more scarves, no more simple jackets… instead, she's sporting a business skirt and a white blouse tucked into it, with black pumps casing her feet, and a watch on her left hand.

She looks at him in awe, with an emotion flying through her eyes which he can't place, and she says quietly into the phone, "I've gotta go, I'll s-see you soon." And she hangs up, staring at him slack-jawed, eyes wide.

"What – what are you doing here?" she inquires finally, still hosting a dumbfounded expression, but she's started to accept it, he believes.

"James and Phillipa are on their summer break," he tells her, and then, without any more words, he moves forward and embraces her with everything he has – she's just as petite as before. She stiffens in his hold, but after a few seconds she relaxes and hugs him back.

Cobb pulls away after a while, examining her again. She lets him, but he notices she becomes a bit uncomfortable. "Before you meet your friend," he suggests quietly, "let's just talk a little while."

Ariadne looks hesitant, but then she smiles at him and agrees.

* * *

><p>"How are your studies going?" he asks her as she sits down on a bench in front of the university, overlooking a small, grassy meadow graced with trees and allowing numerous students to walk languidly around on it.<p>

Ariadne shrugs. "Miles says I'm one of the top, if not the top, in his class… he hasn't checked for a while."

"Congratulations," Cobb says to her. He debates saying one more thing, until he gathers his courage to do so. "James draws a lot. He says he wants to build buildings and be the best, like you."

"I-I'm honored," she stutters, glancing at him with flushed cheeks.

"They really miss you," Cobb continues in a hoarse voice. "Could you come see them?"

"Cobb, I – "

"At least just come _visit._ You really made an impression on them. And then we can start working together again – I _know_ I said I didn't want to do more jobs, but – "

"Cobb – "

"Maybe, after I leave, you can come for a weekend or so? You can teach James to design, he'd be fantastic at it – "

"Cobb!"

" – and – um, yes?"

"Cobb, tell me the truth," she says, and he can very slightly sense desperation in her voice. "Why would you come looking for me?"

"I – I told you," says Cobb, but a twinge in his chest tells him that that's not the truth. "Mostly for Miles, too, but James and Phillipa wanted to see you."

Ariadne stares at him for a moment, and then rises from the bench, shifting her gaze to the ground as she pulls her bag onto her shoulder. "I should go."

"Please, Ariadne, don't leave," he says to her, standing up as well. "Why won't you talk to me?"

"Why would you care?" she retorts, twisting around to glare at him. He gapes at her, wide-eyed, and she begins to march away.

After three seconds – yes, he knows exactly how long because they pass like years and he can't stand staring at her back toward him – he calls out desperately, "Ariadne, wait."

She doesn't stop, and Cobb has a feeling that she'd heard him perfectly well.

He runs after her, grasping her shoulder and stopping her in her tracks. She's about to push past him when he crouches to the grassy green ground, pulling her with him, and embraces her.

He sits like that for a while, until he feels his shirt becoming damp, and he pulls away to see Ariadne's eyes glistening with tears. Immediately, he wraps his arms around her once more and breathes, "Why are you crying?"

"B-because you don't _care,"_ she hiccups into his chest, clenching his shirt. "I – I've been gone for two years and you've never taken the initiative to find me, you've never emailed, you always think I'll come back because you – you take me for granted – "

"Christ, _no_, Ariadne," he breathes into her hair. "I _always _cared, I just never admitted it. I thought I'd never miss you when I had you. But after you left… I realized just how valuable you are to me."

She hiccups into his chest once more and lifts her arms to wrap around his neck. "I l-left because I didn't think you'd care at a-all. And every t-time you tried to get me to come back I thought you w-wanted me to work on a job with you and it… it hurt, s-so when Arthur pr-proposed to me last week…." She sniffs, and he sighs into her hair. "I-I said y-yes."

"I won't argue against what you want," says Cobb, pulling away slightly and looking into her red-tinged eyes. "I won't. You can make your own decisions and I won't force you back with me to Los Angeles. I just want to know why you won't come."

"I'm getting married, that's why, Dom," Ariadne tells him in a choked whisper. "I'm getting married to Arthur. He's safe, he's dependable, he loves me, he can make me happy – I can love him."

"You _can,"_ Cobb replies quietly, and he wipes a tear off of her cheek with his thumb. "But that doesn't mean you _will._ Do what makes you _happy."_

* * *

><p>He's in Miles' house, in the living room, with James drawing a stick-figure of Miles and Marie in front of their house for a birthday present for Marie, and Phillipa's asleep on one of the sofas. Eames has taken to staying at a hotel, and later he'll be leaving for Asia for a job offer – meanwhile, he's told Cobb to take it easy, and Eames will pull the sweetest, yet nastiest tricks on Arthur that he can.<p>

All of a sudden there's a noise at the front door, and Cobb gets up to answer it.

When he does, Ariadne's standing on the doorstep, breathless.

"Ari!" cries James, and Phillipa's eyes shoot open as she bolts, along with James, to the front door.

They welcome her with open arms.

* * *

><p><strong>It's so cliché! But I guess that's why I had fun writing it. <strong>

**Guys, what happened to all the Cobb/Ariadne love? I'll start spamming it soon, I promise.**

**Review please! :) They make my day. **


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